


To Stand For Something

by forshame



Category: The 100 (TV), XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/F, Probably lots of battle scenes, Unconscious Raven Reyes, War against aliens so don't read if you're not into that, XCOM AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-24 12:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19723498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forshame/pseuds/forshame
Summary: Lexa Woods joined XCOM to make a difference. She finally gets her chance.-~-~-The XCOM 2 AU that only I asked for and other people humored me about.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who has listened to me talk about XCOM 2 for the last almost week. This is a little AU to sate my craving, and I'm not sure how long it will actually be.
> 
> Names:   
> Blake = Octavia Blake, Reyes = Raven Reyes, Carver = Gustus, Pine = Lincoln, Pierce = Anya, Griffin = Clarke Griffin.
> 
> I'll add more as I add them to the story.
> 
> If you have any questions, ask! I know this will probably not make total sense to anyone that hasn't played the game, and if I can help then I'd love to. For those that have played the game, this starts from the first real mission after the tutorial.

Lexa took a deep breath in, then carefully let it out again. Her finger tightened against the trigger of her assault rifle, and she stared down at the Advent soldiers milling about less than 50 yards away. 

They hadn’t spotted her or her teammates yet, but their slow and lazy patrol had them inching ever closer. Lexa could feel beads of nervous sweat trickling down her back. 

To her left, the mission leader made a hand signal towards the right side of the street, which so far looked like their clearest path to the objective. Lexa gave one jerky nod, her eyes returning to the two Advent soldiers again. Lieutenant Carver would lead the way, and if he were spotted, Lexa was on overwatch to immediately provide cover fire and hopefully take out the enemy before they could even get their guns up to shoot back. 

Hopefully.

The mission was an important one, to provide a distraction while Central’s team followed up on intel relating to the previous Commander. It was also Lexa’s first mission out in the field. She’d been begging for the chance to get out there, to prove that she had what it took to make a meaningful difference in the resistance against Advent, and the only reason she’d gotten the chance was that Sq. Pine was still recovering from a grenade blast that thankfully had only embedded a large piece of shrapnel into his thigh. It hadn’t managed to nick an artery or anything else major but he was sidelined for the time being, and Lexa had been tapped.

Carver shifted, then broke out into a surprisingly quiet sprint for a man of his size carrying his cannon. He slid over the top of a decorative barrier, then crouched down to take cover on the other side, immediately bringing his gun back up in preparation for the fight.

The two soldiers hadn’t so much as glanced in their direction. Lexa bit her lip hard to keep from sighing in relief and risking their position. 

Her ear-piece crackled quietly to life, Sq. Blake’s voice coming in a whisper. “Two incoming on your seven, Woods.” Lexa tensed, glancing quickly to the left, but unable to see anything past the cars parked at the side of the road. Blake was positioned on the second floor of the building right behind them though, and Lexa knew better than to ignore her warning. 

Carver had also heard the comms, and as Lexa looked to him for guidance, he motioned for her to stay put. Pulling his grenade launcher off his back, he loaded up a frag grenade. Lexa’s breath hitched in her throat. It was about to get really real. 

“On my mark,” Carver’s voice crackled lowly in her ear. Lexa forced herself to look down the barrel of her rifle and focus entirely on the trooper closest to her. She could do this. She’d been training for it. She’d been begging for it. This was the chance to start avenging her parents, and she wasn’t going to let her nerves take this away from her. 

Carver stood up, smoothly bringing the launcher out in front of him and firing it towards the two soldiers in Lexa’s line of sight. One of them caught the flash of movement and started to squawk out a warning, but before he or the other soldier could take more than a step, the grenade went off with a concussive boom that had Lexa instinctively ducking lower in her cover. 

One of the soldiers went flying to the side and was clearly not getting back up, draped over a barricade and dripping dark orange ichor down his limp arm. The other had turned away enough that his armor had taken the brunt of the blow. He was clearly staggered, but his gun came up quickly, the pain only barely seeming to affect him. Lexa had seen the vids and had heard the stories. Whatever Advent had done to these soldiers, they didn’t react the way normal people did. Wounds that would cause debilitating pain to even the hardest of soldiers only seemed to slow them down. The only way to truly stop their forces was to make sure they didn’t get up again. 

Lexa’s blood roared through her ears, aware of the exact moment that the trooper in front of her became aware of her position. She steadied herself, hearing shouts from the surrounding civilians but pushing them out of her mind. The barrel of his rifle turned towards her, and Lexa watched its progress in slow motion. Inhale. Steady her hands. Sight down the target. Exhale. He took a step to get himself into a steadier position. Inhale. Lexa’s grip tightened. Exhale. Lexa squeezed the trigger.

The rifle jolted in her grip, a spray of bullets hitting true. 

In front of her, the trooper’s hands went wide off of his gun, his body jolting backward from the force of the impacts. The helmet blocked any view of his eyes, but she could see the way his mouth went wide. She could imagine the surprise that would be etched onto his face were he still human. Could imagine that maybe there was fear. His body fell backward, then crumpled to a heap on the pavement.

Lexa could hear nothing but the ringing in her ears. She could feel nothing but the ache in her muscles from controlling the recoil. The taste of blood where she’d bitten through her own lip.

Belatedly, the sound of his body hitting the pavement filtered in. Then, everything rushed back all at once. 

“Woods!” There was screaming coming from everywhere as the civilian population gathered for the Advent celebrations went running off away from the sounds of explosions and bullets. Carver’s voice was shouting in her ear. It sounded like he’d been trying for a bit. “Woods, get your ass across the street.”

She turned, spotting Carver motioning for her to join him on the other side of the barrier. Her mind was still reeling, having never taken an actual life before. She hesitated, and the moment almost cost her dearly. Behind her, heavy footsteps stopped just on the other side of the cars, and she heard the sound of a gun cocking. All of a sudden, she remembered Blake’s warning about the incoming behind her, and she scrambled to get out of her cramped position and run to Carver’s position. She got two steps in before a spray of bullets hit exactly where she’d just been standing, and then there was the loud crack of a sniper rifle in the distance. 

Lexa sprinted the fastest she’d ever managed in her life and tumbled gracelessly over the barrier. She grunted as she hit the sidewalk, her knee cracking against the hard surface even through the padding on her armor. She gave herself one second of adrenaline-fueled terror, her life flashing in front of her eyes, before she forced herself back up again, peering over the barrier. 

The Advent Captain who’d been shooting at her laid crumpled over the hood of a car, his neck extended from the impact of the sniper round that’d taken him out. She looked back where she’d been crouched, seeing the chunks taken out of the wall and knowing that that had almost been her. A high-pitched giggle escaped her, and Lexa clasped a hand over her mouth in mortification. 

Carver clapped her on the shoulder. “You’re alright Woods.” He looked back out at the street, eyes alert. “Nice shot, Blake. Status report?”

Lexa wiped at her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket, hating the way her arm trembled. 

“No hostiles in range,” Blake said. 

Nodding, Carver relaxed a fraction. He gave Lexa another quick look, then gave her a proud smile. “Good work out there, Woods. Head still on tight?”

“All good, sir,” Lexa said, straightening up. 

“Good. Move forward positions. Reyes, you’re up. Get that X4 in place. We’ve got about two minutes.”

“Copy that,” Reyes’ voice came through the comms. “Target is in sight. Blake, you got eyes on the prize?”

The target was the largest Advent statue in the area, a garish monument to the glory of the new overlords and how much better life was now. Just looking at the thing in its place of honor in the city center made Lexa’s skin crawl. Carver motioned to move out and provide more cover for Reyes to place the explosives, and Lexa jogged out to take lookout around the corner of a building. From there, she could see Specialist Reyes doing last minute prep of the package before she dashed out to place it. 

She could also see a patrol unit almost right on top of them.

“Incoming,” Lexa whispered urgently. “Blake, where are you? Two on approach at the west corner of the plaza.”

Reyes head whipped up in the direction Lexa mentioned, and Lexa could practically see the “oh shit” written across her face at the same moment as the Advent soldiers spotted her. The specialist fumbled for a moment, before deciding to drop the package in favor of her gun. 

Carver had headed towards the other end of the plaza, just far enough away to not be able to help. Blake was in her ear-piece swearing about not having reached the next vantage point. 

One of the soldiers whipped out a shock lance, sprinting at full speed towards Reyes. Lexa pulled up her rifle, unable to get a good aim on him as he used his surroundings to his advantage. She turned and found a clear shot to the other soldier, this time not hesitating at all as she steadied herself and took the shot. Bullets tore into the Advent soldier’s trigger arm, disrupting his shot and temporarily keeping him from firing on Reyes. Lexa took the opportunity to dart out, closing half the distance to the statue and ducking behind a concrete planter. 

The sound of electricity crackled nearby, followed by Reyes’ crying out in pain. Lexa caught site of the stun lancer stabbing Reyes in the side, and then the horrifying moment when the specialist crumpled to the ground. Were it not for the moan she let out, Lexa would have thought she were dead. As it was, the stun lancer was quick to look around, and immediately zeroed in on Lexa’s position. 

“Reyes is down,” Lexa said shakily. “Need backup.” She checked her ammo. One burst before she’d need to reload. There was no time.

“I’ve got overwatch,” Carver said. “We need to secure the package. Woods, you with me?”

“Copy,” Lexa said. The stun lancer ducked behind a bench, then immediately moved to another cover. It was clear he was making a beeline straight for her position. Lexa pulled her rifle up, but this time she couldn’t manage to center herself. She could still see Reyes crumpled on the ground, only yards away from the target. So close, and yet she’d gone down with barely a warning.

Her finger pulled the trigger, but her shot went wide as the soldier took another quick dodging step. Lexa desperately tried to run through the reloading process, something she’d drilled into herself over and over. Day after day. Blindfolded. Today, her hands shook. The soldier was 10 yards away as he came out of the last cover between them, stun lancer held wide beside him and ready to strike. 

A spray of bullets from across the courtyard tore through him with enough force to throw his body to the side. Carver grunted over the comms. “I said stay with me, Woods.”

Lexa stared at the body, the shook herself. Her hands made quick work reloading, then she hefted the rifle. Somehow, she’d lost sight of the other soldier, and she looked across the plaza with trepidation. “There’s another.”

“I’ve got eyes on him,” Blake’s voice was a relief in her ear. “Your path is clear for now. I’ll pin him down.”

There was no time for second-guessing. Lexa forced her body forward, following almost the same path as the soldier had taken to get to her. The gleam of light off a dark helmet flashed to her left, but Lexa just changed her path and quickly darted behind a pillar. Shots went wide behind her, and Lexa immediately darted off again.

She skidded to a stop beside Reyes’ body, one hand immediately reaching to find a pulse. It took a moment to focus on the other woman’s pulse and not the roaring of her own blood in her ears, but soon enough she let out a shaky breath of relief to find one. Reyes might be completely unconscious, but she was still very much alive. “Got vitals. Moving to the target.”

“Copy. We’ll cover you.”

“Figures she’d take a nap,” Blake’s voice murmured low over the comms, her relief clear despite the sarcasm. “I mean copy. Soon as he pops up, I’ll take him out.”

Lexa almost grinned, even in these circumstances. She slung her rifle across her back then reached for the explosive package. Even though demolitions was not her area, she could recognize that Reyes had primed it, doing everything but attaching it to the base of the statue. The detonator was in Central’s hands, his team nearby and ready to use the distraction once they had the all-clear.

She grabbed the ledge, sending a quick prayer to a god she didn’t believe in that she wasn’t about to martyr herself for the cause this early in her career, and pushed herself up and out of cover.

It was only a few steps to the target, and it took no time at all to slap the package against the base of the statue and quickly secure it. As she turned back, the soldier from earlier took one step out of his own cover for a better shot, no more than 15 yards away and completely confident in his stance. Lexa dived for the ground, but before he even had a chance to pull the trigger, the crack of two different guns burst into life. One shot slammed his head to the side, his body tilting uncontrollably. Another burst of cannon fire sent his body blasting backward to crumple in a heap on the grass. 

Lexa rolled off the ledge to rest near Reyes’ still unconscious body, adrenaline swimming through her veins. She laughed again, then covered her face with her hands. “Oh fuck.” She said. Then repeated it for good measure. “Fuck!”

She allowed herself another few seconds. Long enough for Carver to show up on the ledge below, stowing his cannon. “You did good, Rookie.” He said. “We gotta go, though. Plenty of time to fall apart once we hit evac.” He jumped up onto the ledge, then picked up Reyes like she weighed nothing at all and slung her over his shoulder. “Blake, cover us, out of the plaza, then head for evac.”

“No, I’m… I’m good,” Lexa rubbed at her face hard, then rolled up and onto her feet. She was extremely shaky, her emotions were all over the place, but the adrenaline rush was like nothing she’d ever felt before. Is this what being invincible felt like? She pulled her rifle back into her hands, then hopped down off the ledge next to Carver. “I’ve got your six, sir.”

Carver spared her a long glance, then gave her an approving nod. “That I believe.” He shifted Reyes, then headed out at a quick clip. Lexa followed behind, blood singing and eyes vigilant. They had no trouble getting to the evac point from there, then roping out, and it was only once they were in the Skyranger and headed out that Lexa finally felt like she came back into her body again.

She sat, strapped into her seat, and knew that she absolutely was going to fall apart. But later. Later.

There was an explosion in the distance. 

Right now? She was invincible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newly promoted Sq. Lexa Woods visits an injured Raven Reyes in the infirmary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not sure where this is going, but we are going somewhere! Thanks to everyone who has shown support.

Lexa ducked under some exposed wiring. The infirmary still had plenty of renovations to finish, much like the rest of the ship. It did have four beds, though, and one of those was currently occupied by Sgt. Raven Reyes.

Lt. Carver stood to one side, arms crossed over his broad chest. He looked up at Lexa as she approached and nodded, but continued what sounded like a conversation that they’d had many times before. “Reyes, you know the only reason I’m a higher rank than you is that you keep landing yourself in here. Do we need to have the talk about finding better cover again?”

Reyes scoffed. “I had to give you some reason to feel like you were winning.” She looked over at Lexa and grinned, clearly trying to draw her into the joke. “Right, Woods?”

Lexa looked between her and Carver with a straight face. “Getting stabbed _is_ the ultimate show of friendship.”

They both stared at her for a moment, then Reyes burst out laughing. “Oh god, she jokes? What have I been missing all this time? Pine told me you didn’t even smile all the way through training.”

Carver grinned at her as well, and Lexa fought not to show how shy the expression made her feel. The gruff older man had done his best to take her under her wing this last mission, and she felt like her dad had told her that he was proud of her.

“You’ve gotten stabbed enough, though,” Carver said, turning back to Reyes. He hesitated, then his expression turned earnest. “If you want a break from going out in the field, there are plenty of things you can do here. I know that Shen would love to have—”

“Gus,” Reyes interrupted, pulling her pillow from under her head and hitting him with it. She groaned as the movement pulled at her wound. “Jesus.” Carver gently replaced the pillow under Reyes’ head and waited patiently for her to recover. “I want to be out there. I _need_ to be out there. It’s just bad luck.”

Carver stared at her for a long moment before nodding, satisfied. “I’ll get Shen working on something to counter that, then.”

“If anyone could, it’d be her.” Another voice came from behind Lexa. She barely managed to avoid jolting, a mild panic settling in at the idea that she’d been caught unaware. If this had been out on a mission…

But they wouldn’t be standing around at ease. It was okay. No reason to panic.

A blonde woman that Lexa had never seen before brushed gently by her to move to the unoccupied side of Reyes’ bed.

“Griffin?” Carver’s voice was surprised. “You’re back?”

“She’s back,” Reyes said, clearly beyond pleased about it. “I think she got tired of being grounded. Or maybe she just missed me.”

The blonde turned to look at them both properly, having finished checking her vitals. She rolled her eyes at Reyes’ theatrics, but her smile was genuine. “I don’t know what I ever did without you, Raven.”

“Damn right,” Reyes replied. She caught Lexa’s curious expression. “Oh hey, Woods, you never met Griff, did you? Griff, this is Woods. She made Squaddie this last mission. Saved my ass.”

Lexa found herself temporarily frozen for a moment as some of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen focused on her. The other woman was still in civilian clothes, although she held herself like she’d trained to do more than stay behind the lines. Griffin was the first to actually move, stepping forward and holding out a hand towards Lexa.

“Thank you,” Griffin said. Lexa nodded as she shook the other woman’s hand, feeling the callouses that still existed there. “It’s good to know that someone can save Raven from herself.”

“Hey!” Raven reached up for her pillow again, but Carver was quicker, tugging it down more firmly under her head.

“You’re gonna tear your stitches, Reyes,” Carver grunted. Reyes relaxed back into the bed with a huff. “You’re not proving to me that you really want to get out there again.”

Lexa realized that she was still holding Griffin’s hand and tried to casually let go. The other woman glanced to her with a small smile but otherwise made no comment.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lexa said softly. “Are you going to be joining us out in the field too?”

Griffin’s face turned pensive. Raven looked at her with an excited smile. “Griff! Of course you didn’t come back just to get stuck on the Avenger. Fuck, I’ve gotta tell Blake.” She tried to push herself up but was immediately pushed back down by both Carver and Griffin. “Fine! You tell her, then. She’ll be pissed if she’s the last one to know, though. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be going out on missions. There might not be anything to tell.”

Reyes rolled her eyes. “Sure. But I call dibs on going with you on your first mission back.”

“Better stay still then,” Carver said. “Or we might win the war before you heal.”

Reyes looked over at Lexa. “Woods. You’re on my side, right?”

Lexa furrowed her brows. “What is your side? I think you should heal too.”

“Ugh, no. That Griffin should get out there.” She pointed towards the other side of the infirmary, where two Gremlins were hovering and flashing lights at each other. The little robots actually seemed excited to be together. “Look. Our team is unstoppable. You’ve gotta see us in action.”

Lexa looked back at Griffin, who was staring at the Gremlins fondly. For some reason, she hadn’t expected the other woman to be a Specialist, but suddenly her being here in the infirmary made a lot of sense.

“I’d like to see it,” Lexa said. “And I’ll probably need patching up soon too. I wouldn’t mind a medic out there.”

Reyes looked interested. “Oh! What’d you pick? Wait, wait, let me guess…”

There was a long extended pause while everyone looked Lexa up and down. She struggled not to fidget.

“Grenadier?” Raven finally asked. “You’ve got the arms for it.”

Griffin’s lips twitched in agreement.

“No,” Lexa said, keeping her face straight. “I’m going to be a Ranger. Cpt. Pierce has agreed to mentor me.”

Raven’s eyes widened as she let out a whistle. “Hot. Although you might regret asking her for help. You’ll be broken before you even make it on another mission.”

Carver shook his head. “She’s the highest-ranking Ranger we have. Congrats, Woods.”

“Thank you,” Lexa said. She looked at Griffin again and gave her a small smile. “It’d be good to have someone to help patch me up after I go toe to toe with an Advent Trooper.”

The other woman’s jaw worked as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Try not to need it, though. We don’t need you taking lessons from Raven, here.”

“No respect,” Reyes muttered.

“I’ll do my best,” Lexa said. “It was nice to meet you. And Reyes, I’m glad you’re alright. I just wanted to check for myself. I need to go now, Cpt. Pierce already has me on a training schedule.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Carver said. “Take care of yourself, Reyes. I mean it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for stopping by, Woods. Next time, bring chocolate.”

“Raven…” Griffin sighed, clearly used to her friend’s antics, even if they’d been apart for a bit. “Hopefully next time I see you won’t be because you need patching up, Woods. Good luck with Pierce.”

Lexa listened to the two friends start to banter again as she walked out with Carver. He kept in step with her as she made her way to the training room, and for a while they were quiet.

“Woods,” he said finally. “Before the mission, you were thinking of going Sharpshooter. What made you change your mind?”

It was a question she’d been expecting. “Everyone is important,” she said. “I know this. But I can’t stay back where it’s safe.” Lexa looked at Carver, feeling the need to get his approval. “And when I had to pick up the package and get the job done? That’s where I want to be. I want to do the things that will keep other people from danger.”

They had stopped walking for a moment, and Carver gave her a long look.

Lexa sighed softly. “And I’ve never felt as alive as I did right in the thick of it,” she admitted. “I don’t want to die, but… I don’t want to be scared anymore either.”

After a moment, Carver snorted. “You’re gonna make me worry about you, Woods.” He smiled, though. “I’ve got your back. I’d have you on my team any day.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lexa kept her reaction to a small smile and a nod, but internally she felt warm at the sentiment. She looked toward the training room, where she knew the intense Cpt. Pierce was waiting to challenge her for all she was worth. “Remind me that I wanted this in a few days. I have a feeling I might hate myself.”

Carver chuckled, clapping her on the back. “Oh, you will. Good luck. You’ll need it.”


End file.
